KIGALI, Rwanda, July 22, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ ----Senator Tom Daschle is in Rwanda this week, leading a delegation of policymakers on behalf of the ONE Campaign (www.one.org), a bipartisan movement of over 2 million advocates for the elimination of global poverty and disease. Senator Daschle and former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist are co-chairs of the ONE Vote '08 Campaign, which seeks to energize voters and educate presidential candidates about these important issues during a critical election year.

"We have a moral obligation to assist those suffering from abject poverty and disease," said Daschle. ONE members have succeeded in raising national awareness about these issues and making them a policy priority for the presidential candidates. "Investments in the development of our world's poorest nations must be a pillar of our foreign policy going forward, no matter who is leading the next administration," continued Daschle, who is a national co-chair of Senator Barack Obama's presidential campaign.

The ONE delegation to Rwanda has visited patients infected with HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and other life-threatening diseases being treated in clinics, hospitals and homes near the nation's capital, Kigali. The purpose of these visits is to gain a first-hand appreciation for the challenges of these health crises in Africa and assess the success of American-sponsored foreign-assistance programs like the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the President's Malaria Initiative (PMI), and the Global Trust Fund.

"I am encouraged by the tremendous impact that these programs have had in fighting the spread of disease across Africa," said Daschle. "Over the last four years, 2 million more people living with AIDS now have access to lifesaving medication." In Rwanda, there has been a 66% reduction in deaths from malaria, largely because of the delivery of bed nets and anti-malaria medication. "Nevertheless," Daschle continued, "much work remains." This week, Congress will pass legislation to nearly double America's commitment to these programs by authorizing $48 billion in aid over the next 5 years.

The ONE delegation has also met with civic and government leaders, as well as everyday citizens and entrepreneurs, to discuss Rwanda's courageous national reconciliation since the genocide in 1994 and its ambitious developmental goals going forward. Among these was Josh Ruxin, Country Director for the Millennium Villages project in Rwanda. The Millennium Villages project offers a bold, innovative model for helping rural African communities lift themselves out of extreme poverty. The Millennium Villages are proving that by fighting poverty at the village level through community-led development, rural Africa can achieve the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals - global targets for reducing extreme poverty and hunger by half and improving education, health, gender equality and environmental sustainability - by 2015, and escape the extreme poverty that traps hundreds of millions of people throughout the continent.

Alston & Bird, the law firm where Senator Daschle serves as a Special Policy Advisor, has served as outside counsel to Millennium Promise, one of the partners in implementing the Millennium Villages project, on a pro bono basis since April 2008. Millennium Promise works with impoverished communities, national and local governments, and partner organizations to implement high-impact programs aimed at transforming lives on the continent and engaging governments, corporations, and the general public in the effort. The work of Millennium Promise is premised on the belief that, for the first time in history, our generation has the opportunity to end extreme poverty, hunger, and preventable disease.

As outside legal counsel, Alston & Bird provides a broad range of legal advice to Millennium Promise on its activities both in the U.S. and in sub-Saharan Africa. "As part of the next phase of activities dedicated to achievement of the Millennium Development Goals in the Millennium Villages, Millennium Promise hopes to accelerate growth in private household income by fostering businesses in these communities," stated Ashley Hufft, a partner at Alston & Bird who is helping the firm develop an African-focused business practice.

"Alston & Bird is excited about helping Millennium Promise determine how to structure these future business opportunities, including through the creation of agro-businesses, in the Millennium Villages across sub-Saharan Africa," said Hufft.

Alston & Bird's work with Millennium Promise is an important part of the firm's pro bono legal practice and provides many of its lawyers with the opportunity to become involved with an important organization dedicated to eradicating extreme poverty and preventable disease in Africa, on top of being able to help answer challenging and interesting legal questions. The firm's relationship with Millennium Promise reflects a broader effort by A&B to focus on sub-Saharan Africa as the next investment destination for many clients, especially strategic and financial investors in the U.S. and Europe who understand the growing amount of business opportunities that exist there.

About Alston & Bird

With more than 800 attorneys, Alston & Bird is a leading national AmLaw 100 firm. The firm's core practice areas are intellectual property, complex commercial litigation, corporate and tax, with national industry focuses in financial services, health care, energy and public policy. The firm has built a reputation as one of the country's best employers, appearing on FORTUNE magazine's ranking of the "100 Best Companies to Work For" nine years in a row, more often and more highly ranked than any other law firm in the United States.

For more information on Alston & Bird, please visit www.alston.com.

SOURCE Alston & Bird

http://www.alston.com 

Copyright (C) 2008
   PR Newswire. All rights reserved